Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud directed an increase in police patrols throughout the city following the publication of an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal branding the city as “America’s Jihad Capital.”
After the piece was released on Friday, Mayor Hammoud promptly announced heightened police presence, particularly around places of worship and key infrastructure locations.
As the city’s first Muslim and Arab American mayor, Hammoud took to X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday to inform the community about the opinion piece.
He urged residents to remain vigilant, citing concerns over the surge in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online directed at Dearborn following the publication of the article.
Hammoud emphasized the irresponsible nature of the opinion piece, highlighting its potential to increase the risk of harm to Dearborn residents.
In an interview with the Free Press, he expressed his condemnation of such inflammatory journalism and its repercussions on the community’s safety.
The escalation in hate crimes across the United States in 2023, as indicated by preliminary data from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, underscored the urgency of addressing and combatting bigotry and xenophobia.
The report revealed a record number of hate crimes reported in major U.S. cities, with a notable increase in incidents targeting Jewish and Muslim communities amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
